Chapter 10 #2
I moved out of range, laughing. Jo Jo wasn’t to be easily thwarted and immediately chased after me.
“Journey Jovi?” Kris repeated, tapping a finger to her chin, unphased as we chased each other around the island. “Wait. Zhen, if you knew, why the hell didn’t you say so?”
“And miss his reaction?” I kept sprinting, as Jo Jo hadn’t beaten my speed yet. So long as I ran, I was safe. “Never!”
Jo Jo picked up a spatula and threw it at my head. I caught it, spun it around, then lunged. “En guard!”
Jo Jo whipped out a different spatula, crossing “swords” with me. The manic light in his eyes promised he wouldn’t go down without a fight.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Both of you quit, you’re worse than kids! Jo Jo, I promise not to tell people, since apparently you really hate your name.”
Jo Jo paused and instead went to Kris, hanging off her shoulder like a pitiful child. “Kris. Won’t you help me legally change it?”
“Hate it that much, huh?”
He gave her pitiful eyes in return.
Her lips quirked up. “Well, sure, I guess. I have no idea how, but I need to look it up anyway. I want to change mine, too.”
“Wait, hold them horses.” I threw up a hand, staring at my wife because she’d just dropped a bombshell. “You’ve never said anything before.”
She grimaced, letting out a disgusted sound. “I really don’t want to keep my family name.”
“Ah.” After cutting all ties with her parents, of course she felt uncomfortable using their name. “You’re welcome to take mine. My parents would be over the moon.”
A brilliant smile stole across her lips and she clapped her hands excitedly. “Oh my god. I was hoping to talk to the family and get their blessing. Yay! I’d sooo much rather be a Barre.”
Silly woman, she was so cute when she slipped into her Valley Girl accent. Dodging Jo Jo, I moved close enough to encircle my arms around her waist, kissing her soundly before whispering against her mouth, “You’re already a Barre, lao po.”
Her eyes softened as her arms wrapped around me in turn. “It’s because you say nice things that I keep you, zhang fu.”
“Oh, is that why?” I played along and placed another kiss on her irresistible lips.
Also, if she was talking about changing her name, could I convince her to legally marry me while she was at it? A two-for-one, if you will. I liked my plan very much and saw no flaws.
“Eww, you two be cute somewhere else.”
Without looking, I reached back and smacked Jo Jo. He yelped but I had no sympathy. He deserved it.
Kris stopped us before it became another chase scene in the kitchen. “Please act your age for another hour. You can go wrestle with each other later. Did you catch Jo Jo up on our ghost groom?”
“I did.”
“Good, give me a second.” She dumped a bag of egg noodles into the boiling pot and set a timer.
Then she came to stand next to me at the island, facing Jo Jo.
“Okay, so, today I contacted the girlfriend, Jennifer. Told her a little of the situation, and she was justifiably confused, so I asked her to come in. I figured Boss could explain it better than me. So she comes in, I show her to Boss, and I kid you not, ten minutes later another woman waltzes in.”
“Was he double-dipping, like two women on the line?” I asked incredulously.
She shook her head. “No, turns out this new person was an ex, someone the groom had dated before Jennifer. But the ex strikes me as the possessive, few-screws-loose sort. She kept saying things like ‘since I was a former girlfriend, I should be here too.’ No matter how I argued, she kept repeating it. Lady, that wasn’t the point of bringing Jennifer here!
It’s because she’s got a kid and we need to introduce her to the family. ”
Kris let out an aggravated sigh. “In retrospect, I should have pushed her back out the door. Anyway, Jennifer hears the ruckus, she comes out to see, and she recognizes new girl—Luna. She promptly lost her shit and starts screaming at Luna because, from what I gather, Luna’s been stalking Jennifer ever since she started dating the groom.
And still is, even five years after his passing.
Jennifer said she almost had enough evidence to prove the stalking and get a restraining order. ”
I let out a low whistle, which was echoed by Jo Jo. Wow, that said a lot, as restraining orders weren’t easy to get. They made it look easy on TV, but you had to have a lot of evidence proving a threat before a judge would grant one.
“Anyway, it’s impossible for us to know who’s telling the truth or what’s really happening, as it’s one woman’s word against another’s.
I’m personally on Jennifer’s side, as it was the PI who found her, but we’re still bringing both back in along with the family so we can hash things out with the groom.
Maybe talking to him will give Luna closure and she’ll calm down, who knows?
Can I call you two in tomorrow? For protection if things hit the fan? ”
Crazy had no limits, and if a fight broke out, Kris would be hard-pressed to stop it. Charlotte wasn’t a fighter, and my grandmother—while a spitfire with a cane—was half blind with bad knees. It was just a bad situation. Even with the huodou there, a visible human presence might be better.
Jo Jo threw a hand up. “I get a ringside seat to the show? I’m in!”
I seconded this. “Me too. What time?”
“Five o’clock.”
“We’ll be there.”
“Thank you both. I feel relieved now. Zhen, tell Boss, would you? The noodles should be about done.”
The timer on the stove went off, so her timing was spot on. I texted my grandmother and got smiley faces in return. So she was happy, but then, she was always happy to see me.
Kris drained the pasta and we started filling up bowls with noodles and yummy meatballs. I sat down at the island again beside Kris, Jo Jo on her other side.
Jo Jo took one bite and then groaned. “This pisses me off.”
Kris turned her head, visibly confused. “Uh, I’m sorry?”
“It’s so good it’s pissing me off,” he clarified, still frowning. “How dare I only discover this yumminess now.”
Kris cackled at the backhanded compliment and promised, “I’ll write down the recipe for you. It’s a dump-and-pour type, so even a bad cook can still make it.”
“Please and thank you.” Turning his head to see me past her, he glared. “And you. I no longer like you.”
I knew he was joking and played along. “Oh yeah, why’s that?”
“You get this awesome house and a kickass wife who can cook and shoot things? How’s that fair? I want an awesome house and a kickass wife.”
“At least part of that is acquired by dating,” I pointed out.
His eyes widened, mouth agape. “Why must you speak of such horrors when there’s perfectly nice food in front of us?”
“I would like to point out you brought this up.”
“Hush your mouth, I refuse to acknowledge the logic.”
“Logic bounces right off you anyways.”
Kris let us toss insults as she calmly ate her dinner. Despite the bickering, Jo Jo and I both had three bowls, and he damn near licked the pot by the time we finished. So much for leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
I think Kris took the inhaling of her food as a compliment in and of itself and offered ice cream sundaes for dessert because she was a sadist and liked to torture me. I did have two scoops, though. So did Jo Jo, all while groaning he felt full as a tick.
I spent the rest of the evening in the library with my wife and my friend, catching up, letting him play with the cats, and meeting the huodou.
Evenings like this made life worth living.